Happy July 7, 2024! And Happy Birthday, Danny!
It shouldn't come as a surprise that it's Danny's birthday if you're reading Fragmented, because it came up twice in the novel. One of the chapters even takes place on Danny's birthday.
His birthday is the seventh day of the seventh month. Because he's a cheerful, optimistic kind of guy, I wanted seven to be his lucky number. He deserves it.
Daniel Fox was born on July 7, 1985, to Althea and Gregory (Greg) Fox. His zodiac sign is Cancer and, as of the beginning of Fragmented, in September of 2004, Danny is 19 years old. As of today's date in 2024, he would turning 39.
Danny is the youngest of six. He has five older brothers, and though they don't get too many mentions in Fragmented, this is a perfect opportunity to list them all out. So, from oldest to youngest, we have Angelo, Gabriel, Joshua, Russell, and Nathan.
Danny's brothers don't make an appearance in Fragmented and they're usually mentioned by nicknames (such as Gabe, Josh, Russ, Nate). They're out of the story in part because that would be a lot of other characters to deal with when the cast is already pretty packed, but also… Those kids were eagerly pushed out of the nest by their parents. That's only logical when you have a big family.
That being said, Danny's family are all pretty close. They get along really well and I imagine that Danny's brothers visit a lot and help out their parents (or each other) frequently. They're one big happy family.
Danny is the youngest, but he's also very sociable. I've known a few guys like this throughout life, and they're always great to hang out with and really fun to be around. I wanted Danny to be the kind of guy you could imagine being friends with.
I think I succeeded? I've had both alpha and beta readers say that Danny is their favourite character. Which is great, honestly! He's fun to write.
Something else about Danny is that he's the shortest of the group. Dude is about…maybe 5'2"? Maybe a little shorter? But he's not really bothered by it unless his brothers (who are also pretty short) tease him.
Personally, I can relate to being short. I have these weird cursed genetics. Everyone on my father's side of the family is 5'4" - including me. So, Danny and I have at least one thing in common! Lmao
It's interesting to have Danny as a friend in the group. He's kind of the glue that pulls them all together, despite the fact that he wasn't that close with Amber. Although, a bit part of is…
It might not be obvious at first, but Rion feels the closest to Danny. Other than Noa. Who is his best friend. For Rion, Noa is first and Danny is a close second. It's kind of funny, because this isn't true with Noa, who likes Danny just fine, but doesn't feel the same closeness.
Relationships between people can be really interesting. They're complex and dynamic and not everyone feels the same way about each other. Going further with the Danny example, Danny is best friends with Sarina. And Sarina has a crush on Noa and hates Rion.
But small town life is kind of like that. You're friends with whoever is close by. You don't have much of a choice, because there are only so many people you can talk to. And even the people you don't like, you learn to tolerate.
Something that was important to me for Danny's character was for him to be nice, but not a pushover. I wanted him to be someone willing to stand up and challenge people when someone is wrong. Even if he doesn't want to and even if he hesitates first.
I think when you're creating characters, it's easy to go overboard and make them too nice, to the point where they take everything in the teeth. That can work for some characters and some stories. But Danny needed to have a backbone.
After all, how could anyone be Sarina's best friend and not have a backbone?